20 349 
■T24. 




From FIFTEEN YEARS' PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, 




BY 



i CJ 



CANANDAIGUA, N. Y. 

1870. 




M. n. Smith, Printer, 18 Elwood Block, J?och£sler 



DR. A. G. COLEMAN, 





WW 

mffi 



^ ML<9 



Oldest-Established Office in Oanandaigua. 



OVER TEN YEARS' EXPERIENCE in admiuistcring Cliloro 
form and Gas. Remember, Dr. Coleman was tlie first to in- 
troduce Laughing gas in tliis place, and will guarantee no ill effects 
resulting from his administering the same. He is tho only lleiitist 
in the county (with one exception,) who has the right to apply 
Folsom's Patent in making Artificial Plates. Teeth Filled in 
the most approved manner. 



^LL '\YoRK 'jp'ULL.Y "QuAFiANTEED 




Dr. A. G. 
Coleman. 



OFFICE ON GORHAM STREET, 

Directly North of the Court Tlouge. 










\Mt 



60 




H: 



IX 



COMMOiN GABDENS. 



FROM 



FIFTEEN YEARS^ PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 



y^ 



BY 



GANANBAIQUA, N. Y. 



i3:a 



"Entcred accordinsr to Act of ConjrreBs, in the year 1870, by IIouack Taylor, in 
the Clerk's OSce of the District Court for the Northern Dist. of N. Y. 



INTPxODIJGTION. 




ELECTIN(t a name for our pamphlet, we call it, 
''Tomato Eaishuf in Common Gardens'' h^Q'.\\\^i^ 
tliere lias Leeii onr experience, and not in the field 
culture; and because that, throup^h the common 
^ oardens of the common peojde, the masses" are to 
i)c henefired hv our experience, if at all About fifteen years 
personal exi)erience and observation in raising tomatoes, 
na\f On iM^iifO liu- Liif pi ;n, t iv.fi-1 iviKMviutlge uptm the siibject, 
which T intend — Provi<lence permittino- — to communicate 
m tins pamphlet, for the benefit of the common people 
who wisli to raise theiv own tomatoes. I think we may 
safely say, that in oi'dinariiy favorable seasons, any family 
wlio has a half-rod of oood o-round — and in many instances 
less — may raise as man}^ good tomatoes as they want for 
family use, and have them ripe by the first of August, in 
this latitude, l)y observing the following direcfions, (They 
have not failed our family, once in fifteen years ) 

We have been led to ])resent these ])ages to the public, 
from the fact that there are very few common gardens that 
have much ri{)e fruit before September. And then, if, as 
is sometimes the case, the weather be backward and cold, 
but little fruit ripens before October, — and then but little 
escapes the frost. We propose to tell the ])eo})le how to 
raise good, ripe tomatoes early, and have plenty until frost 
comes, ar.d a month oi' two later, if they wish it. 

We are aware that some people do not need our inform- 
ation, and others will not heed it. But to those who need 
it, and will heed it, these pages are respectfully com- 
mended II. T. 

Canandaigun, March, 1870. 



Foil SALE — 111 their appropriate seasons, in small quantities, 
but of g-ood quality. Tomato Seeds, Tomato Plants, Eakly 
Ripe Tomatos, and Canned Tomatos. 



/^LOCK REPAIRING— In all its branclies, after 25 years' sue- 
V-y cessfui practice; By Horace Taylor, Canandaigua, N. Y. 

Also, Umbrella and Parasol Repairing, in the same shop. 

Work done upon the principle of the " Golden Rule.*' 



'5 







SEEDS. 



KOVIDP] yourselves, if you fire not already 
su))plied, with the best you can obtain froi'n 
reliable persons. My practice is to get some new 
seeds or plants every year, or Avhat is supposed to 
be new, though it does not always prove to be new 
or better. My chief reliance is to raise seeds and 
plants of my own that T know to be good. 

Being provided with seed, take some leisure moment, 
and separate your seeds, one from another entirely, if they 
are not already so, so that each seed can be planted sepa- 
rately, and each plant can stand and grow, and be taken 
up separatelv. 

PLANTING 

comes next in order, if your soil is prepared. If you 
plant in boxes, have a box three or four inches deep in- 
side, filled with good rich light soil. — Raisin boxes are 
very suitable. Plant each seed by itself, three-fourths of 
an inch, or so, deep, and seeds from one to two inches 
apart, according to the size of your box, or the number of 
plants you want. March is early enough to plant. 

Keep your box in a comfortably warm room ; water as 
it needs ; give it what sun-light you can, and keep it from 
the frost, especially after the plants are up. 

After the plants are large enough, if you have a hot- 
bed, or a warm bed in the garden where your plants can 
be protected from the frost, 

TRANSPLANT 

them there, and give them good care. If you have no 
place pi'ovided, and do not provide one, keep them longer 
in the box, setting them out doors warm days, and bring- 
ing them in nights, until the weather is warm enough to 
put them in your garden. 

But if yon have early plants, and want early fruit, you 
had better by all means provide a place that you can cover 
with glass, and thus have the heat of the sun without the 
cold air ; and nights if need be, cover with old blankets 
or something sutficient to protect Irom the frost. 



4 TOMATO RAISING 

This you can easily do, when yonr plants stand sepa- 
rately, a 2:ood distance apart. And standing thus, your 
plants will be enough better to pay. At each transplant- 
ina:, set the plant in the soil as deep as it was before, or a 
little more. And the last time, leave it nearly or quite up 
to the first set of leaves. 

SUN-SIDE. 

After your first transplanting, (and at the first if your 
plants be of much size,) keep the same side of the plant 
towards the sun, or south, every time you change their 
situation, especially at your last transplanting. 

At every transplanting, take up soil around the roots, 
so as not to disturb their growth. 

HOT^BED. 

If instead of planting in a box, you first plant in a hot- 
bed, make the bed as soon after the middle of March as 
you can, and plant the first warm day afterwards, when 
there is no wind to blow your seed away. 

Or if need be, if you are planting only for your own 
family use, you will want so few that it willjbe no great 
task, to take each seed by itself and put it where you want 
it, irrespective of the wind. Those Avho are accustomed 
to make hot-beds, and to raise plants to sell, have their 
own way of doing it all, and perhaps better than mine ; 
and I shall not attempt to teach them. 

But about planting seeds separately, when the wind 
does not blow, it can be done easily, and tolerably fast. 

PLANTING BOARD. 

Have a small board, like a piece of siding, smooth on 
one side, and thin on one edge, with notches cut on this 
thin edge, just the distance apart which you want to plant 
your seed. Lay a few seeds along on the board, lay the 
board down so that the notches will be directly over a little 
furrow previously made, into which you want to plant 
your seed ; then with one finger on one seed, carefully 
slide it into one of the notches, and so on, till one row is 
dropped or seeded. Then laying this planting board aside, 
with another somewhat similar, except having no notches, 
cover the furrow into which seed is dropped, and by this 
act make another furrow for the next row. Then replace 
the board with seed on it, and drop again as before, and 
so on. If the wind blows too hard for this operation, ad- 
journ awhile, or do as we just recommended irrespective 
of the wind. 



IN COMMON GARDENS. 5 

Those wlio have hot beds merely for tlieir own use, if 
they are not too hot, and have a Gfood depth of soil above 
the manure, and spaee enough above that, for plants to 
grow large; will do well to keep their plants in there, 
standing a good distance apart, until they are quite large, 
and the cold weather is past. 

Then transplant them without disturbing the roots, and 
you have plants that are plants, and with proper care 
thereafter, you will have fruit that is fruit. 

PLANTING IN OPEN GARDEN. 

But those who do not plant in l)oxes, or in hot-bed?, 
can in a favorable season, plant in the open garden where 
the soil and location are right, and b}^ protecting against 
frosts, and by thorough training and trimming, may raise 
some good tomatoes. But to make it sure, you want early 
plants, started in boxes, or hot-beds, or warm beds. If 
you have no hot-bed, the next best is, 

A TV ARM BED. 

Make this like a hot-bed, Avith this exception. That 
you have but little manure in it. l>ank around it, and 
have a glass over it, and guard against the frost. — 
For some persons, and on some accounts, it is better than 
a hot-bed. 

AIRING. 

But warm beds, and more especially hot-beds, should 
be opened some, in a hot day, and closed tight in a cold 
night. In the forenoon before they scorch, and in the 
afternoon before they chill. 

PLANTS, 

Those who do not raise their own plants, should get the 
best they can from the most reliable persons. — Not the 
most /?Vable persons. — I bought some plants at a high 
price, from one of those /?Vable persons, who warranted 
the tomatoes to ripen in June. They did not ripen till 
August, so I thought they were /^Vable enough, and I 
called them June lies. But they were on sods, and it 
took two or three weeks for them to get started. 

PLANTS ON SODS. 

Sods are convenient for carrying plants to market, etc. 
But they have little depth, and the roots in them can have 
no more. They generally hinder the growth of plants, 
and sometimes very materially. For the sods must be 



() TOMATO RAISING 

broken enough to free the roots, and thereby injure them 
more or less; or else if the sods are left undisturbed, they 
will confine and cramp the roots, for weeks. 

There is no <nher alternative. Therefore it is much bet- 
ter if you can have good plants, well taken up with the 
soil around the roots, fresh from the garden, or in boxes 
or pots, without any sods. 

CHOOSING PLANTS. 

Choose not from the hightli or tallness of the plant, but 
from the number of sets of leaves which they have, and 
their general stocky and thrifty appearance. Good plants 
have their fruit stems, about the fifth or sixth set of leaves. 
The fruit stems can always be distinguisb.ed by the buds. 
Plants set out in the open garden before the weather is 
warm, are very likely to be injured by the 

SPRING FROSTS, 

unless well covered ; and if covered, unless with glass, 
they will not grow much. Therefore good plants set out 
a little later, will do as well or better. 

BROAD CAST 

sowing of seed, may be practiced when one wants a great 
number of very slender plants, or when he cannot or will 
not take time and pains to have better ones. I do not 
recommend this plan. But if you do sow in this man- 
ner, the plants should be pulled up carefully some rainy 
day, and set out singly, until they are large enough for 
permanent tiansplanting. Before any permanent trans 
planting, there should be a thorough 

PREPARATION OF SOIL. 

If the soil is not already right, make it rich, deej> and 

light, in as warm and sunny location as practicable. — 

When the weather and plants and soil are all ready, make 

your 

PERMANENT TRANSPLANTING. 

If the soil is right, the roots will find their way down- 
wards, without burying the stalk as some people do, be- 
cause their plants are too feeble to stand up. Better have 
plants that can stand up, and then set them low, — not be- 
low the first set of leaves, — and the ground around them 
being full as low as the level of the garden or lower, it 
will not require as much hilling up, and will much better 
i-etain the rain that falls on it, and the water put on it in 



m COMMON GARDENS. 7 

dry weather. But sometluiig depends on tlie wetness or 
dryness of the soil, ete. 

TIME OF TRANSPLANTING. 

I prefer transphmtino- when the soil is moderately wet, 
without l>ein<>' drenched or drowned. I prefer evenino- to 
mornin<>;, uidess it be cloudy all day. Have your ground 
and ]^lants in good order, and you may set them evenings, 
whether the weather be wet or di-y. 

DISTANCE APART. 

The distance of setting ])lants apart, should be deter- 
mined by the manner in which they are to be trained, and 
by the amount of room you have for plants, etc. Differ- 
ent distances will appear, according to the different modes 
of planting and training. I will speak of three methods, 
whicli T will call first best, second best, and third Ijest. 
Other methods, without staking or cribbing, I will not 
dwell upon. I shall give but little attention- to second 
and thir<l l)est, but s]>eak mostly of the first best. 

METHOD THIRD BEST. 

This T call cribl)ing, or any kind of frame work ])ut 
around the plants, to sustain them, and keep tliem from 
the gi'ound. I have ]:>referred tlie following plan to any 
other that T have ]>racticed or seen. Set the ])lants three 
or four feet apart, according to the room you have, &c. 
Make a crib or frame, the cross pieces of lath, and the 
u)n-ight corner pieces, (or posts as they may be called,) 
of ])ine or any soft wood, about two or three times as stout 
as the lath. Instead of having the corner posts stand per- 
pendicular, have them slanting, so that the lower ends 
will be six indies aj)art. and the upper ends fifteen. Have 
the posts twenty or twenty-four inches long. Take your 
cross pieces of lath, aiul with liglit nails nail them on the 
posts, so as to make tlie above size and shape. Put three 
or four cross pieces on each side, beginning at the top, and 
leaving a space of eight or ten inches at the l)ottom of 
the posts without any cross pieces. After your plants are 
set, and before they get too large, set the crib over, small 
end down, and drive carefully into the ground, far enough 
to have it stand firm and steady. You can hoe around 
near to the plant, weed it, trim it, and keep it from the 
ground very easily, after the cribs are once set. This 
method comes nearer to what is called the French method, 
than any other that I have practiced. I sometimes set a 



8 TOMATO RAISING 

short stake in the centre, to train and support the main 
stalk. I let four or live side branches ijjrovv, making five 
or six in all. I keep all witliin the crib, and let none of 
them grow much above it. I trim oil* all except regular 
leaves, and bearing stems. These cribs if well made and 
taken care of, will last a number of years. But the 

SECOND BEST METHOD 

I think better still. It is this. Have the plants set 
three or four feet apart. Say hills three feet, and rows 
four feet or more. Put a good stake to each plant or hill, 
or set your stakes first. Then train and tie your plant to 
the stake, as it grows and needs support. Leave but two 
or three stalks to c^row, and trim oft' everv other succor or 
shoot as it appears. Our people in this vicinity, (Canan- 
daigua) who succeed very well generally in raising toma- 
toes, pursue nearly this method, except theyfjiil very much 
in trimming. But they do not, and cannot, have so good 
early fruit, as they might by the 

FIRST BEST METHOD. 

Having the ground ready, and the plants, and the stakes, 
then the first thing in this method would be to consider 
how near to have tlie plants to each other. And this 
would depend upon how much room there is for the plants, 
and how many plants there are to be. I^" I had plenty of 
room for them, and time to attend them, I should set the 
hills three feet apart, and the rows four or five. If the 
garden is small, as mine has been most of the time, I sliould 
say, rows three feet apart, and hills two or less. But if I 
want to make the very best and most of a little ground, 
in the most convenient and economical manner, I have 

DOUBLE ROWS 

after some of the following plans. First plan, one single 
row, hills three feet apart, and then a foot and a half from 
that row, have another just like it, only the plants in this 
row, stand opposite the middle of the space between the 
plants in the first row. Or, second plan, have the two 
single rows eighteen inches apart, and the hills eighteen 
inches apart in the row, alternating with each other, as in 
the first double row. This second plan as you see, wouhl 
contain twice as many plants as the first. Or, third, have 
two single rows, one foot apart, the hills or plants being 
two feet apart in the rows, and alternating with each other, 
as above. Here are three plans for double rows. The dis- 



IN COMMON GARDENS. 9 

tances may be varied as you choose. I then recommend 
three feet or more, from one double row to another. This 
Double-Rowing, I believe furnishes the greatest possible 
amount of good early fruit, on a small space of ground, 
and with the greatest convenience of training, trimming, 
worming, and watering the plants, — gathering the fruit, 
and covering the plaiits in case of early frost. But, please 
bring your hand down emphatically here. — If you prac- 
tice any of these double rows, or this close planting, you 
must certainly be thorough in the training, and especially 
in the trimming department. You must positively let 
only one single stalk grow on a plant. The most distin- 
guishing feature between my first, second, and third best 
methods is, training and trimming. Indeed this is the 
great turning point of success, in raising early tomatoes. 
The trimming is the chief part. My first best method 
does not determine how far apart the hills or rows shall 
be, or whether there shall be any rows. But this espe- 
cially, that only one stalk be left to grow, and that kept 
well trimmed, and trained, and tied. Therefore my direc- 
tions for trimming, etc., will apply equally to single hills, 
or single or double rows, wherever the one stalk system is 
adopted. Plants must be set before trimming, etc. I re- 
commend to set stakes before setting the plants. 

STAKING. 

I use mostly pine stakes, made from the trimmings of 
matched boards, which are cheap at the planing mill. — 
Others can use what they please, or split up boards to 
make stakes. Use something long and strong enouoh to 
sustain the plant and its fruit. I 2:)refer pine or soft wood, 
because it is so much easier putting in and taking out 
tacks. Any hard wood is just as good, where the string 
is merely tied loosely around the stake, without being 
tacked to it. I use stakes about five feet lonsf, g-oins: into 
the ground far enough to stand strong and steady, eight 
or ten inches. When the stakes are taken up in the fall, 
they should be cleaned of strings, tacks, and dirt, and put 
under cover till wanted again. When you have concluded 
where to set your plants, how far apart, etc., then you will 
know just where to put your stakes. Set them first, and 
press tlie dirt on the west, north, and east sides, and set 
your plant on the south side of the stake, two or thi'ee 
inches from it. Set the plant the same side towards the 
sun, that it has ever been. In taking up your plants, take 



10 TOMATO RAISING 

up soil enough to not disturb the roots ; and have holes 
large enough to put them in, dug in front of, or on the 
south side of the stakes. Press the dirt gently, but not 
hard, around the plant. If your plants are eight or ten 
incites high wlien set, they may need tying immediately, 
at least they should be tied before they are broken down 
by the wind, or their own weight. 

TYING. 

Where plants grow fast, they should be tied at least 
once a week. Use soft strings to tie Avith if you can. — 
Do not tie too tight, and yet, tie so as to keep the stalk 
tolerably straight, and near to the stake. When a fruit 
stem is too long or too weak to hold up its fruit, it should 
be carefully tied, unless it can be laid over a stout leaf 
which will sustain it. I use narrow strips of cloth, a half 
inch or so wide, and fasten them to the stake by a large 
headed carpet tack, that can generally be put into soft 
wood by the thumb and finger. 

TRAINING. 

Having observed the rule of keeping the plant always 
the same side towards the sun, and training up only one 
stalk, you will be prepared to train that in such a way, as 
generall}^ to have the fruit stems on one side, sun side, and 
use the space between the leaves on the opposite or back 
side, for the place of your stake. By taking a little' care 
and pains, you will be able to train the plant, so that the 
leaves spreading on the back, or shady side of the plant, 
will form a complete place for the stake, and brace or lean 
against it, very much like a man standing with his back 
to a post, and his arms spread out and turned backwards, 
so as to brace against the post. These ideas may some of 
them be new, but in practice, they are beautiful, conven- 
ient, and useful. 

TRIMMiNG. 

In trimming, I use a sharp knife, so as to do it better, ^ 
quicker, and wdth less stain on the fingers, than by pinch- fj 
ing off the shoots. Leave the one main stalk to grow, and 
trim off everything else except the leaves and fruit stems. 
Trim as often as they need it, especially once a w^eek, so 
that you will not have to look and reach through the branch- I 
es and leaves to find and trim wdiat ought to have been done 
weeks before. Trim thus promptly and early ; because it 
will be easier done then, and because it will save nourish- 



IN COMMON GARDENS. 11 

nient to the plant, which would be lost by late trimmiiio; 
anrl because your fruit will be better and earlier. Trim 
off blossoms and small fruit, where there is an excess; that 
is, where there is more than can be sustained and matured 
on that branch or stem, always leaving those nearest the 
main stalk. Some stems will sustain more fruit than oth- 
ers, according to their length and strength. Wliere the 
fruit grows in clusters on each side of the stem, five or six 
will generally be enough, for one stem, unless it be laid 
across or over a leaf, or sustained by tying, in which case 
it may support twice as manf as it otherwise would. But 
where the fruit grows in large round bunches or clusters, 
very near the main stalk, there may sometimes be a dozen 
or twenty come to maturity ; though some of them are 
generally small, and might better have been clip))ed off 
early. Don't be afraid of trimming off blossoms and small 
fruit. If properly done, you will gain in quality and 
quantity of good mature fruit. When the j)lants or vines 
liave reached a proper highth, four or five feet, or when 
the blossoms or young fruit are set enough for the plant 
to maintain and mature, (wiiich is generally as soon as 
any fruit ripens on the same plant, or sooner if the season 
be late,) then the tops of the vines should be clipped or 
cut off, and no more fruit allowed to set. These rules for 
trimming, though designed for plants trained to a stake 
where only one stalk is left to grow, are nevertheless just 
as applicable to all plants whei-e trimming is practiced at 
all, except the difference resulting from the one stalk sys- 
tem. The one main stalk may divide itself into two or 
three equal branches, so that you can scarcely choose be- 
tween tiiem ; and yet you must choose, and cut off all but 
one. When there is a perceptible difference, choose the 
best. When there is no difference in size, choose the one 
most likely to have its fruit stem towards the sun, or the 
one that stands fairest to the sun. My particular method 
of trimming is this: Let the whole plant grow till the iruit 
stem appears, which may always be known by the buds. 
Then cut off all the shoots or succors that come out below 
this fruit stem, but never cut off a regular leaf, with but 
few exceptions. Leave the leaves for I'espiratory organs 
to the plant. Continue to trim thus below the first Iruit 
stem as long as shoots continue to grow. Above the first 
fruit stem, continue the same practice of trimming oft" all 
but the fruit stems and leaves, up to the top of the plant; 



13 TOMATO RAISING 

:ind clip that oif in due time. I said never cut oif a leaf, 
but with iew exceptions. The exceptions are as follows : 
First, when it is essentially in the Avay of getting around 
or working among the plants. Second, when a leaf pre- 
vents iittino- and fastenins; the main stalk to the stake 
properly, it may sometimes be cut off, though seldom. 
Third, when the fruit is too much concealed from the light 
and the sun, a little trimming off of a part of a leaf or 
leaves, will do good by letting in light, and by giving you 
a better view, and a better opportunity to take care of the 
fruit. Occasionally, the main stalk of a plant will stop 
short without any branches, at the first or second set of 
fruit buds. In this case, if the plant rifles above that fruit 
stem, it must be by the side shoots from below, of which 
you may choose the best or uppermost, and train it up as 
a main stalk. Or, for experiment, you may leave several 
side shoots to grow not very high, and call it the French 
method. In closing my remarks about trimming, perhaps 
it would not be amiss to caution people against one mode 
of bad trimming. And that is, after havi^ig neglected 
trimming until it is too late to reap much benefit from it, 
and when well trimmed vines hav^e ripe fruit ; don't get 
out of patience, and go and cut and slash and half kill 
your vines for tlie sake of getting a few waited half ripe 
tomatoes. Much better avoid all this, by trimming in time. 

For taking off STAINS, use tartaric acid. j 

CULTIVATING THE SOIL. j 

Hoe the ground enough to keep down the weeds, and 
keep the ground fresh and loose ; but do not hill the plant \ 
up so high, that the water will all run off Avithout wetting j 
the roots. 

WATERING. 

Much benefit may be derived from watering the plants, 
wdien the weather is dry. Do not put on cold water, es- 
pecially wdien the plants are hot from an all day's burning 
sun. I prefer to have water that has stood through the - 
day or longer, so that it is not cold, or else have the chill 
taken off by the addition of a little warm water. When 
the days are very hot, and the nights cool, I prefer to wa- 
ter early in the morning. When the nights are about as 
warm as the days, I would water evenings. When the 
plants are small, water with a fine sprinkler. When larg- j 
er, use a coarser one for your own convenience. When' 



IN" COMMON GARDENS. ' 13 

well grown, take off the rose, and ponr directly from the 
open spout. No harm in using tlie rose all the time, if 
you hav^e time and disposition to do so. Probably it 
would be better. 

Please keep out the COB WEBS from your plants. 

DEFECTIVE FRUIT, 

After the fruit begins to develo]> itself considerably, 
and as it begins to ripen, there will be some so knotty, 
etc., that it will not be worth saving: and some with a 
dry, and others with a soft rot, before maturing. All 
such fruit had better be taken oif and out of the way, 
when first discovered. Leave no fruit to decay on the 
ground, lest it furnish seeds or plants that get in unawares, 
among your own selected ones. Tiie great effort in rais- 
ing tomatoes, is to get good early ripe fruit. Do your best 
to get ripe fruit, and you will have plenty of green. So 
there need be no effort in that direction. 

WORMS. 

For several years successively, we have had more or 
less sensational reports, or scare-crow stories in the papers, 
about tomato worms being so poisonous. Other reports 
and evidences, which I think more reliable, say they are 
not poisonous. This is my firm belief about our common 
tomato worms. If there be an uncommon, stray, poison- 
ous one, on tomato plants more than on other plants, I am 
yet to be convinced of it. But, that there are at times, 
worms whose teeth, (if they have any,) are like devour- 
ing elements to the plant and the fruit, none can deny. 
Tliese worms are a reality, and when and where they 
abound, they should receive prompt attention and exter- 
mination. When they are large and voracious, they can 
easily be detected by their droppings," which will abound 
directly under them. They will be found devouring the 
fruit or leaf, sometimes on the under side of the leaf. My 
method of disposing of them is to colonize them under 
one end of a board, with my feet on the top of the board. 
Let me make one suggestion here. If your plants are 
well trained and trimmed, and the cob webs, etc., kept 
out, you will be much less likely to have worms ; and if 
you do have any, they will be much easier discovered and 
captured, and you not as likely to run your hand against 
them. To guard against contact with worms, and much 
of the stain, a pair of gloves is ample security. 



14 TOMATO RAISING 

RAISING AND PRESERVING SEED. 

Thouo'li it may be well to try some new kinds of seeds 
or plants yearly, yet the only sure way to have good seed 
is to raise or save it yourself. Select for seed the best 
fruit that is earliest ripe. Always having reference to 
the size, shape, smoothness, fmitfulness, and the shortness 
of the fruit stem, and its ability to sustain fruit without 
breaking. The solidity of the meat or pulp is one of the 
most desirable qualities, and can be partially detei-mined 
by the feeling and the weight, but not fully, until it is 
opened. Any time during the season when you find some 
extra good fruit, save some for seed. When the seed fruit 
is selected, the next step is to separate the seeds from the 
pulp, the juice, the mucilage, etc. Cut the tomato open, 
take out the seeds with the handle of a teaspoon or the 
like, putting them in a dish by themselves. When you 
have all you want of one kind, or for one time, clean and 
separate them, as best you can. This is my method. Put 
the seeds into a small sieve, and hold the sieve a little 
depth into a pail of clean water with one hand*then with 
the other, stir and rub the seeds around until they are as 
clean as need be. Then drain the water off, and spread 
the seeds on a smootli board to dry. When they are suffi- 
ciently dried, take them off carefully with a smooth case 
knife. Put them in the hollow of one hand, and rub 
them thoroughly with the thumb and fingers of the other, 
until the seeds are all, or nearly all, sei)arate and single. 
Sometime before planting I separate the seeds entirely, if 
they are not already so. x\fter the seed board has been 
used once, it should be washed, an<l the dried mucilage 
got ofi' before using again. The seeds which I save I put 
in papers, each kind by itself, and put on the date, and 
the name or kind, and lay it away for future use. Here 
let me make another suggestion. Tomatoes are constantly 
changing, ini|)roving or detei'iorating, or mixing with other 
kinds, according to the care they have, or the circumstances 
that sui round them. The best kinds you have may run 
out, or deteriorate very much in a few years. Hence, if 
you have a supply of good seed, you can fall back upon 
that any time within five or eight years, and perhaps longer. 
While tomatoes neglected may lastly deteriorate, it is 
equally true that by proper care and cultivation, they 
may as lastly and as certainly im|)rove. 



TN- COMMON- GARDEN'S. 15 

FALL FROSTS. 

After fi heavy frost, tomatoes are done for the season, un- 
less they have been well covered or protected. If you 
have but few vines, and those convenient to cover, this 
may be done. But where they cannot l)e protected, the 
vines havini;- fruit you wish to presei've, may be .cut off 
close to the sjround or pulled up by the roots, and taken 
with the fruit, and put where the frost will not hurt them. 
Do this just before the first hard frost. If neglected till 
afterwards, it will be of no use. It may be of use after a 
light frost. They may be put in a barn or shed, secure 
from frost, and give them the benefit of the light and sun 
the best you can. My hot bed, (not hot in the fjxll, but 
Vclean and dry,) makes a good place in which T can put 
^\vo or three bushels, and keep them till c(^ld weather or 
\ter, and take- them out as they ripen, or as we want 
kn. Wliat I put in there, T have picked and assorted. 
^ ^t in and shut out, air and sunshine, as the fruit requires. 
if } YOU do not save your tomatoes on the vines, you can pick 
thei jn off, and spread them on boards, or the floor of some 
spp ;re chamber in the house or woodshed. In some of these 
wr ^lys tomatoes may be kept for weeks or motiths after they 
*^' mid have been killed if left exposed to the frosts. 

I DISPOSING OF THE Vli^ES. 

v\.fter the vines are dead and the fruit gathered, strip 
jiw vines fi'om the stakes, and dig them under, good and 
^ jep with a spade. They will sometimes be rotted by the 
,me you want to make garden again. If they are not, 
iig lightly over tliem the first season, and afterwards they 
will become thoroughly rotted and incorporated with the 
soil. By the w^ay, (though digressing a little) it will pay 
to have a little strip of ground on purj)0se to dig under 
all kinds of vegetable matter; vines, weeds, potato and 
apple pearings, etc., during the whole season. These re- 
marks apply chiefiy to those who occupy small lots, or 
who do not keep domestic animals to consume their vege- 
table matter. Commence by digging a trench a few feet 
long, good depth, into which for a while, throw all youi; 
i| waste vegetables, vines, and spare weeds. Then dig across 
a few times again, which covers the mass, and forms a new 
trench for t lie next batch, and so on. Tiie less ground you 
have for this use the deeper your ti-ench should be, and the 
more put in it before covering. In a few years this prac- 



16 TOMATO RAISING 

tice will add something to tlie quantity, and much to the 
richness of your soil, besides keeping your garden and 
yard much neater and cleaner, and avoiding surface pu- 
trefactions, etc. 

FALL PREPARATIONS. 

If vour o'round is not in good condition, improve it what f 
you can in the foil. Most grounds will open earlier and j^^ 
drier in the spring, for having been dug up in ridges in |j 
the fall. Those who plant in boxes will do well to save 
some good soil in the fall, Avhere the winters are severe. 



NAMES OF TOMATOES. ^ 

In closing up this subject, I should like to give the ^* . 
names of the different kinds of tomatoes. But the number / 
is legion, or soon will be. And the best as well as tlmi 
poorest, are constantly changing names or qualities, i\(\ 
both ; and new ones being added. If we send abroad Ijut * 
some new kind highly recommended, we sometimes getjie J 
new name put to an old kind, for the sake of sojling (th f 
Therefore we abandon the idea of giving names to ajas , 
great extent. We know there are more names than vLj 
can call to mind, and many more names than kinds. ^'^^ 
have had one or two dozen different kinds, and twice ^ ^» *^| 
many different names. We raise mostly, about liaH^* j I 
dozen kinds, such as we call the best. Then we raisv^ ^ 
few others for the sake of varieties. Some of the best '^ 
now have are crosses. For instance, one of the earli^^ 
kinds, not the largest, crossed with one of the best a,^ 
largest, but not the earliest. About the best kinds whi^ 
I have now, and of which I have 

SEEDS TO SELL 

are the Cubans, Keye's Early Prolific, Cedar Hill, Feejee, 
(general Grant, Early Italian, Cuban-Feejee, and Cuban- 
Tilden. The last two are crosses. We have also other 
kinds and seeds to spare. We think tomatoes are best de- 
scribed by the color, size, shape, and smoothness of their 
surface; by the solidity of the meat or pulp; by their 
earliness, and some kinds by their leaves. But we appre- 
hend that it \\\\\ not pay to enlarge upon this part of the 
subject. We believe our pamphlet thus far, will pay those 
who purchase and read it, as a general rule. At any rate, 
we are inclined to give them an opportunity of testing it, 
before we proceed any farther. 



^AYLOf^'g^Vy^EATHEF^ ^ABLE i 1869, 



AKD 



COMBINED. 



|HIS Calendar is the same as other common Calendars for 1870; 
but the Weather Table is entirely new and original — show- 
ing the Average Temperature, and the Variation of the Weather, 
every week and month in tlie year, and the date and temperature 
of all Extreme Weather, cold and hot, each month ; also the num- 
ber and amount, in inches, of all the Storms of Snow and Rain 
eacli month, and the whole amount through the year, etc., etc. 

Although these observations were taken in Canandaigua, yet they 
nearly represent the county, and a large section of country in this 
latitude. 

x\lso, in different and distant sections of country, these Tables 
would be valuable, to compare with the Weather Tables in those 
places, with which I should be glad to make exchanges. 

The above Tables and Calendar, 

For Sale hy Horace Taylor aM at tie Bootstore, Canandaipa, 

And by Merchants in several adjoining towns. 



A. P. DeVOL'S 

LIFE AND FIRE 





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CANANDAIGUA^ N. Y. 



"'sellings, Furniture, Merchandise. 



Manufactories, 



and all kinds of Property, insured in responsible Companies, upon 
the most Reason ABj.K Kates. 



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■ All kinds of work done pertaining to the art, and warranted to 

give satisraction. 

I pH0T0qRyVPH3 My\Df: PROM K)lD PiCTUF(ES, 
! and enlfirged lo tiny size, and linislied in Oil, Water Colore, or Ink 
I FRAiVliS F@R SALE eHEAP. . 

I C. M. MARSH, Artist. 



COMSTOCK & BENNETT, 



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